1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to audio, video and data networks, and more particularly to a wireless intra-home or intra-office building network using power-line communications (PLC) and Ultra-wide Band (UWB) transmission modules to provide untethered audio, video and data content to and from consumer electronic devices throughout the building or connected to the power infrastructure of the building.
2. Description of Related Art
Advancing generations of computers and personal electronic devices have become progressively smaller in size and more portable. The computing capabilities and data storage capacity of these devices have dramatically increased at the same time. The ready availability of access to the World Wide Web allows the long distance transfer of data and audio-visual content to portable devices as well as voice and text communications. Communications systems have also become more efficient and dependable with very easy access available to those systems.
Part of the utility of many of the latest machines such as laptop and notebook computers or hand held devices is in their lightweight and portability. The need to physically connect a portable device to fixed physical connections such as cables in order to access printers, projectors, intra-networks or communications systems, reduces the utility of the portable device. Therefore, a reduction in the number and type of sockets and other cable connections on portable devices will allow further reductions in size of future portable devices.
Wireless or radio frequency communication between electronic devices has been used to form local networks, thereby reducing or minimizing the need for wired connections. For example, a wireless local area network (WLAN) system may be an extension to, or an alternative for, a wired LAN within a building.
Portable consumer electronic devices are becoming dependent in many cases on home network connectivity to deliver audio and video content. The inconvenience of the cables which tether the devices to signal sources has become increasingly bothersome. Present wireless solutions address this problem, but the advantages of strictly wireless connections suffer limitations in range, bandwidth, and reliability. In addition, existing wireless solutions are not configured for cooperative operation with PLC devices utilized on other virtual networks within the physical power-line communications network. It should be recognized that users of PLC networks share the bandwidth which is available from the destination-end power distribution transformer, wherein typically about five to ten or homes are connected to each power-line distribution transformer.
Existing short-range wireless standards such as IEEE 802.11a/b/g that were developed for local area networks (LAN) and Bluetooth™ developed for personal area networks (PAN) have certain inherent limitations in range, bandwidth and susceptibility to interference. For example, IEEE 802.11b operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and has a rated operating range of approximately 100 meters with approximately 33 Mbps total aggregate speed. Bluetooth™ has an approximate 10-meter range with 10 Mbps total aggregate speed in the low power mode.
Networks using the IEEE 802.11b standard often experience interference often resulting in system crashes when certain electronic devices such as 2.4 GHz telephones are concurrently utilized. This interference is particularly challenging with regard to vertical networks which span one or more floors of a building.
One additional disadvantage to conventional fixed frequency wireless applications is the occurrence of multipath distortion due to radio waves bouncing off of objects and arriving at the receiver at slightly different times using different paths. Multipath distortion can cause dead zones and fading and can be particularly prevalent in cluttered commercial and busy home environments.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a high speed, wide bandwidth wireless interface with portable electronic devices without substantial disruption of existing structures or the development of new infrastructure. The present invention satisfies that need, as well as others, and overcomes deficiencies found in prior wireless systems.